Appeals court upholds two Macomb assault convictions

The state Court of Appeals recently upheld two convictions in separate Macomb County Circuit Court cases, one a sexual assault of a girl and the other an assault during a fight over a stolen purse.

In one case, Willie C. Hunter, 45, was convicted by a jury of one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, defined as sexual contact, and sentenced in December 2011 to 15 to 30 years in prison. He originally was charged with five counts each of third-degree sexual conduct, which includes penetration, and five counts of second-degree sexual conduct, for acts with a girl before and after she was 13 years old. His single conviction was for an incident in January 2011.

A three-judge appeals panel upheld the conviction and sentencing, saying the 15-year term fell within the guideline range of 58 to 228 months.

The court also backed the jury conviction of Rasheeda D. Tinsley, 31, of assault with intent to do great bodily harm for cutting a woman in her back and face with a box cutter in January 2011 during a fight outside a home over Tinsley’s purse. Tinsley accused the victim of swiping the purse from a vehicle in which they rode together to go to a nightclub and party. Tinsley claimed self-defense. She was sentenced in January 2012 to two years probation, with the first year in the county jail, as well as marijuana possession, for which she was sentenced to two years probation and which she did not contest on appeal.